Goodman Games

Nerd-gasm.

Having backed the three main DCC kickstarters, I felt like it was about time I showed some support for TA/TG as well. I have been very interested in this since the original announcement went up. I am a fan of horror films (enjoy the Hammer Horror flicks, of course) so I think this is a great use of the DCC core rules with a lot of potential.

I know it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but I have always wanted a tabletop rpg that could adequately handle running a game using the setting of the Castlevania series. Yes, it would be easy enough to run it with something like standard D&D but I never felt like the mechanics really hit that feeling a Castlevania game ought to have. TA/TG looks to be shaping up into something that could really hit that feeling, in my book. Looking forward to it!

EDIT: Forgot I had a question too. Earlier it was mentioned that TA would be offered as PDF/Print-on-Demand. Is there any chance that there will be a hardcover option?

TA/TG is very Castlevania. There's a LOT of "standard D&D" in there. But it has definitely shaped itself around its genre. I think the reason D&D and Ravenloft (specifically) fell flat for me was because they tried to graft Gothic Horror tropes onto a fantasy RPG.

That worked well for the original Castle Ravenloft adventure. But not so much for the setting as a whole, IMO. Because invariably, it devolved into another bog-standard fantasy setting only now with 80% less kobolds and 120% more vampires.

TA/TG is not like that. It's played much more like a badass game of Call of Cthulhu. So, IMO, that makes it a lot more Castlevania-ish.

As for hardcover option, I think that depends on the POD service. If someone wants a hardcover version, I won't do anything to inhibit that. I'm still trying to figure out pricing as it relates to page count, art, etc. DCC is fairly much required. So anything I put out there has to take into account a $40 cover charge. So I'm trying to keep the price of TA/TG as low as possible while being able to recoup the cost of art.

I'm avoiding a Kickstarter. I think they're great. And if I were hardcore about this, I'd totally do it. But I'm slow and isolated and I need all options open in terms of pricing, release date, etc.

My "extras" would invariably suck. (Lol. That never gets old.)

And I'd be pretty horrible about getting them to everyone involved.

Unless it's something like "Donate $XXX and I'll come over to your house and watch Brides of Dracula with you. Beer's on me!"

hi i know i am hopping in here quite late but i was actually referred to this post by a person who i game with every monday in a DCC campaign that we have been playing for about 4 months now. i pretty much have drawn a grimoire documenting our adventures from day one. i pretty much do it for no other reason than to give more body to our post adventure write ups.

nonetheless i have been doing dark fantasy art for ages. my portfolio is on deviant art under the ID unrested. i am also on google plus with my portfolio under scottmackerman@gmail.com


if you are still looking for artists and you feel my style lends itself to your vision please let me know.

Thanks a ton, glendy. I'll check out the art and send you an email.

Scott

Hi,

This is actually my first post on this forum. A friend directed me here to discuss making some art for your book. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Check out my portfolio @ http://acgalaga.daportfolio.com/
Also my blog @ www.ACGalaga.com

If you'd like to see more let me know.

All the best,
Alan

Thanks to both glendy and ACGalaga for introducing me to their work. I've sent you both a PM. Letting you know here, in case you missed the notification.

To everyone else:
I've been plugging away at writing and getting some more playtests in my area. Austinites? Where art thou?

Some exciting developments happening behind the scenes. I'm hoping we'll hear more about it soon. But I'm just trying to keep the lights on at the moment. Joseph (yes, that Joseph) had a quick read-through and said some positive things in response. It still needs work. And I desperately need to get back to the final 5 chapters. But my chapters are (generally) short. So no worries. About 66% in the can barring playtest changes.

I'll need to do a blogpost soon or risk losing my marketing blitz forever. Table of Contents soonish???

A thought crossed my mind:

Sure, TA and TG is first and foremost a rip roaring action game.
However, even though investigations, rescuing the town's kids and putting stakes into the hearts of the solar-intolerant IS exciting, (personally I find that) quests where you SAVE a monster by redeeming its humanity can be just as intense.

Don't worry, I'm not going to go Ronald-Reagan era moralizing again (sorry about that previous rant), but considering the "contagious", if not outright viral nature of monster reproduction such as vampirism and lycanthropy, it can be safe to assume that most monsters never wanted to be one (in the first place at least)

Now, I'm not talking about the old hat "find wolf's bane and swallow it before new moon or Little Timmy will always be a werewolf" redemption, oh no. I'm talking about the type where you must fight (often literally) tooth and nail against a permanent monster who hates what it , help it confront it's guilt and fears when it is calm enough, forgive it and teach it to Love and forgive itself (without believing that senseless eating of innocents is okay, of course) and help
It earn it's soul back, even if he or she remains a beast.

Such stories can be just as action packed as the "stake the bastard conclusio" tales. Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust and Francis Ford Copola's Dracula are prime examples of compassion and love saving the monster.

Though the most powerful of such tales is when you must teach the bitter yet still innocent ghost of a murdered child to let go and go to heaven; doubly more terrifying as the bitterness that powers the hate of a missed out life can make a ghost-child godlike in power. Rama Sayaka in Demon City Shinjuku stands out just as badass as our swordsman hero Izayoi Kyouya when she braves the inferno of a ghost child and hugs her with sincere love, so she can let go of the hate and reunite with her mother up-there. THAT is bravery that not all warriors possess.

The Reality warper boy in The Twighlight Zone movie is a slightly less extreme example, and then again there's always good old "Return of the Jedi."

At the very least, do devote a sidebar to this important genre/subject matter, as it is just as heroic and noble to save a monster as to destroying it. It is up to the player if he/she wants to bother, but let them know that this is a valid option should they want to chose it ( not to mention give he Judge an open option to write adventures devoted to redemption).

After all, love between humans and redeemed monsters is what makes The Half-Blood Character Class possible in the first place, yes?

Take care, may your dice roll high, and good night.

That bolded part made me laugh. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely give it some thought.

Marketing blitz is back on!

I have a table of contents up on the blog.

Enjoy!

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

I've just been really busy with family stuff right now. I'll try to get a blog together on TA/TG next week.

Here's a little more info until then

New post up on the forum.

I'm not sure it covers new ground. But it answers some questions that a blog-reader sent my way.

Thanks for the ToC and the other blog post! I really like the idea that only 1 in 3 sessions might be a dungeon crawl - really lends itself to the type of games I like to run. Can we get a few details on how investigation and research work in the game, mechanically?

I'll put that together soon. Thanks for the suggestion.

As far as status updates.... The campaigning chapter is drafted. I'm about 1/4-1/3 into the Monsters chapter. It's coming along swimmingly and we've got some great, creepy, atmospheric creatures in there. One of my favorites... the Frankenmonkey. After that, the hexmap chapter needs some TLC to TCB. Same with the Setting chapter. A lot to remove from that chapter. Then the Adversaries (which are in notes form at the moment). Still have a ways to go. But everyday it gets a little closer.

Re: Investigation. In play, it's work as I'd hoped it would. Groups have tended to want to "hang out" in investigation/research mode. It really is a mini-game on its own. I'm still trying to draft up advice on how to get a group to transition from investigation to the delving portion of an adventure. That's really the one thing the Judge has to figure out. Kind of like figuring out a timeline of how things progress until the "monster" wins.

For the most part, the benefits of investigation and research are spelled out -- which distinguishes TA/TG from a lot of other games. Most games assume the PCs progress at a given rate and the Judge/GM is left to figure out the benefits of that progress. That's why games like that tend to logjam when the PCs fail to acquire a clue or find some important bit of information... which is also why some RPGs toss the baby out with the bathwater and have implemented systems where clues are handed out like candy on Halloween.

TA/TG does things differently from that. Clues and information have a mechanical benefit. Not acquiring them has a mechanical drawback. The onus on the Judge is to figure out what sort of timeline the party is looking at. How many more nights until Dracula turns that girl into a vampire bride? When will the killer next strike? How long is it to the next full moon?

So instead of seeding definitive clues that lead from X to Y to Z. The Judge can hand out information as the players find it and then have events progress in such a fashion that the party feels the urgency of finding the lair and stopping the thing. The 0-level adventure gives a good indication of how to do this in the context of a delve. And it isn't much different from how a Judge would present a regular dungeon.

I could, for example, use the same sub-systems in TA/TG in an old school module like Into the Unknown (B1) or Keep on the Borderlands. It all centers around what the characters could learn that might help them against a Big Bad and what the Big Bad will do while the characters are busy collecting information. There should be a definite "**** goes horribly wrong" endpoint.

But how the Judge/GM approaches mysteries/investigation (IMO) is much, much more conducive to how they're used to prepping/running games already.

At least, that's how it's worked out in play.

Walked by the Bookstore and saw "To Kill A Mockingbird", and then made a mental note to ask this questions:

1) This there a "Law" skill, as it ties in and is relevant to the "Investigation" skill?

After all, you are miles and miles away from the nearest courts, with drunken mayors taking the place of Judge and violent lynch mobs in place of jury and exectioner.

And defending innocent people accused of witchcraft/lycanthropy/vampirism from the torches and pitchforks of the lynch mob is an iconic image of Gothic Mysteries.

2) There would be a little sidebar devoted to "19th Century European Law", detailing obscure laws dead serious and sad (such as the despicable and revolting "Rule of Thumb" law AKA you are allowed to beat your wife and children with a stick no thicker than your thumb with NO repercussions - England) to silly ones forgotten by today such as "You are not allowed to walk your bear down main street on a Sunday" (Yes, an ACTUAL Canadian Law STILL in the books to this day!!)?

3) I'm guessing besides gypsies, there would be other human adversaries, some WORSE than monsters? Personally, I believe a Hunter electing to pursue a drug-dealer/slave-trader/pillaging-mercenary-warlord over a vampire to be PEFECTLY keeping in alignment his vow: He is STILL hunting a monster.
Better yet: A rip roaring climax to a campaign (at 10th level) for example would be our hunters and noble monsters joining forces to take down "human" monsters far worse than they are.
After all, which is a monster, really? A vampire who shelters, feeds, clothes and educates orphans, taking only monthly tithes of blood from them, letting them grow up to be decent and productive members of society: Or a "human" that sells said orphans to fates best not mentioned?

4) Are women allowed to legally represent themselves in TA/TG Translyvania, or is it sadly and historically accurate in that they have to have a man to represent and speak for them, or even SUE for them, as is the case in 19th Century Europe? For that matter, aside from the adimirable and obligatory "Ladies First", how much rights do female characters have in TA/TG compared to their historical counterparts? Voting? Property Ownership? The right to a divorce or even speak to strangers.
I know this is a tangent: But the poor wives in Bluebeard would not have to suffer and eventually hang if they are even allowed to SPEAK OUT about how abusive their husband is in public and be taken seriously for it.
MUCH of the horror in Classic Gothic comes from the fact that NOT every women is like Mina Harker, and society keeps "proper ladies" deliberately helpless to boost the egos of their husbands; resulting in most women complacently waiting to die if there is no man to save them (Hello~ "1930's King Kong" as a painful example, even if it is 30 years later)

5) Finally (sorry for being long winded again)

I presume stats for the fearsome Gatling Gun and Howtizer Cannons exist? But surely not available until the heroes have enough wealth and/or have taken the "Wealth/Social Status" merit at Character Creation?

Gatling gun roaring a wall of burning silvered-death at army of charging werewolves..... (Nerds out at awesome image)

Thank you!! Hopefully not as long winded as usual.

Live Long And Prosper.

Liu Jen Hao.

I have been keeping an eye on this thread, since this is the top of my 3pp products of interest list.

I don't recall (and haven't spotted upon reviewing the thread) there being any list or mention of an 'Appendix H', if you will.

What Hammer movies, or other movies, are central to TA & TG? I've got a few Hammer pictures in my Netflix queue from which I shoot one to the top from time to time, but mainly things I think I saw as a kid. ...What Hammer Horrors did I miss back in the day, that I should have at the front of my cerebral cortex when the time comes to absorb and run TA & TG...?

Hi, Liu Jen. Great questions, as always.

There isn't a "Law" skill per se. And using TA/TG for courtroom drama would require some creative use of the Research/Investigation rules. I suppose it could be done. Probably easier to do than most editions of D&D. But it isn't an assumed mode of play.

As far as rolling a "Law" skill, that's something I'd relegate to roleplaying -- as opposed to rolling dice. In my opinion, it would be more fun to have the party work together to uncover the truth of an accusation and then have the party present their findings in character at a "trial" as it were. I know not everyone has the same preferences. But this approach seems more in line with the DCC approach to skills. So I'd be reluctant to add skills. Most likely I'd just have a character roll an Intelligence check if I needed a roll to figure out if the character knows some loophole or local legal note.

That said, the Polymath has a very fun ability that allows the character some "Sherlock Holmes" moments. That could be a fun ability in the type of courtroom scenario described here.



There are special sorts of "encounters" in TA/TG that are really more like mini-adventure kickoffs. A number of them deal with this theme. It's more in line with how I'd see them coming up in a game (as either the focus of an adventure or a little side adventure).



Hammer Horror is so incredibly anachronistic. At several junctures, I had to ask myself "What Would Terence Fisher Do?" And many times I veered toward the historical fudginess of the original Hammer movies. There are a few sections where historical accuracy is discussed as an option. But the book does not strive for historical accuracy. It would be more likely to focus on an area's superstitions than their laws. The laws observed by a village or hamlet is more up to the Judge as a "flavor" element than anything else. There are only a few large towns/cities. And characters can expect them to function according to the default assumptions of a quasi-medieval urban settlement.

Historical accuracy can be fun. And there are groups that enjoy that a great deal. But I've found that most groups with whom I've played/run are more interested in what's going on in the game as opposed to the fact-checking sorts of things. And, to a degree, adherence to historical accuracy would not be true to the Hammer Horror genre.



Gypsies aren't really adversaries. They can be. But they could also be allies.

A good example of the "human monster" would be Dr. Frankenstein.

What's being described, however, is more of a campaign arc. There's nothing preventing a group from having human adversaries that are worse than, say, Dracula or some other Vampire Lord. That would be a nice twist at the end of a campaign. The way adversaries are used... really anyone or anything can be one. Anything from the Town Mayor to a Vampire Lord to a Megadungeon.



In keeping with "What Would Terence Fisher Do?", TA/TG grabs hold of anachronism and rides it all the way to flaming castle nirvana. There's a section talking about gender during the time period. Nothing as fleshed out as you'd find in GURPS or Call of Cthulhu. But... it basically advises groups to not worry about it. Nobody's going to mess with a woman who can take down a Werewolf. Or summon a demon. Female NPCs, on the other hand, they would be more likely to suffer from the constraints of the time period. But that's more of a situation that develops at the Judge's whim as befits the needs of the adventure.



This will disappoint. But no... No Gatlings or Howitzers. Maybe I can add them in to TG -- where I will also talk about how to reuse the materials in TA/TG to create different settings. From a post-apocalyptic swords & lasers setting akin to Vampire Hunter D to something far more alien...



That does sound appealing. I'll consider machine guns and cannons for TG. TA/TG -- at this point -- hasn't operated on that scale though.

Yes. That's my bad. There will be an essay on the materials that influenced TA/TG. My intent is to write something more along the lines of the insert in Raggi's Lamentations of the Flame Princess boxed set as opposed to a list. I'd like the opportunity to highlight the important bits.

So that would be more like an Appendix F (or maybe G) in TA.

Thanks for mentioning it.

As far as movies that are central to TA/TG... Well, there are quite a few. The ones I've come back to over-and-over again include...

Brides of Dracula: Even though Christopher Lee is not in this one, I think it's one of the more solid Dracula titles from Hammer. It's a good movie (whereas some of the others just aren't). Moreover, it's one of the best Van Helsing performances by Peter Cushing. In some of the other films, Cushing's role is sidelined a bit by Lee's Dracula. Not in this one. Cushing is front and center and a paragon of what a TA/TG character might do.

Brotherhood of the Wolf: Ignore the last 20 minutes where we can assume Steven Spielberg completely derailed the screenwriting (the "happy" ending part) and you have a quintessential example of how TA/TG plays at the table. Problem. Investigation. Minions. Monster. Adversary. Even a bit of a dungeon crawl there. And Mani is the model from which the Exotic character class was derived.

Horror of Dracula: Yeah. It started it all.

Curse of Frankenstein: Cushing is so amazing as Dr. Frankenstein. Technically, this one really started it all. And it's a good movie as well. Cushing is exactly how TA/TG presents Dr. Frankenstein.

Frankenstein Created Woman: This is another one that makes for a decent viewing as well. Here, Frankenstein is creating a different sort of monster. More human than a lot of the others -- with a twist. This is largely how his creatures play out in TA/TG. Some of them, sure, are monstrous and terrible to look upon. Others could pass for anybody on the street and blend right in. Except for when those overwhelming, violent tendencies show up. There are, of course, the classic, flesh golem style creatures. But Dr. Frankenstein has come a long way since. This movie introduces his sort of "Terminator 3" creations.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed: If you can ignore the unfortunate scene between Cushing and Veronica Carlson, Cushing really does put on a great performance in this movie. Some of his best quips as Dr. Frankenstein happen early in this feature. I steal lines from this movie every time I'm looking to portray the Good Doctor in one of his new aliases.

Count Dracula, the BBC movie: This one is from the 70s and it has the slow, methodical pacing of a Masterpiece Theatre film. That said, it is very true to Bram Stoker's novel. And Louis Jourdan (as Dracula) has one of the best Dracula monologues of all time in the second half. When I think about Dracula, his motivations and desires... I pull from two sources: that monologue and Marv Wolfman's Tomb of Dracula.

Speaking of Tomb of Dracula, it's really sad that they haven't made a viable Marvel film adaptation. I mean, Blade was nice and all. But the crew from Tomb of Dracula shows you a TA/TG party writ large. Dracula in TA/TG is every bit as nasty as he is in Tomb of Dracula. And any group of people taking him on are going to be living a lot like the group of vampire hunter in Tomb of Dracula.

Beyond that, play up some Castlevania. Watch some Sherlock Holmes and some Ghost Hunter TV shows. Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows is a good watch too. It has the action the game intends to embrace. And Sherlock is a wonderful example of a Polymath with cross-upgrades as a Theorist, Hunter and Exotic (for hand-to-hand fighting).

Having come back from watching "The Dark Knight Rises" (Prayers to the souls lost in said tragedy), I must say that overall, if a Judge/Director wants to use Batman Films as sources of inspiration, Tim Burton's Films are FAR and away the superior choice compared to Nolan's films.

Whereas Nolan made pretences of trying to ground what are fundamentally mythical beings into a "believable" reality, Burton made no such pretences and went FULL out to create a haunting Gothic Fairy Tale of Giant Demonic Bats stalking Monstrous Evil Clowns amongst gargoyle tipped spires of steel, forrest of concrete choking with the constant fog of industrial misery.

If you have trouble describing a ghostly knight thundering on a black steed through a dark forrest, have your players watch the "Descent Into Mystery" scene where Batman takes Vicki back to his lair, charging through the ominous gloom of the Wayne Forrests to Danny Elfman's thunderous, haunting score, and tell your players "THIS is what it looks and feels like."

And the heart-pounding finale as the Dark Warrior swooped on the Batwing down the cavernous Canyons of Gotham, raining death of steel and fire upon the Joker's men. BEST action sequence ever that does not come from Hong-Kong and/or Anime cinema.

Haunting, Powerful, Mythic, Poetic and Triumphant, the way that Gothic Punk Opera should be.

If you have not seen Tim Burton's Batman (1989), drop all your Nolan DVDs and get thee on ye Batwing, fly to ye DVD shop and rectify said problem!!

Good night.

Good morning

Just to offer an alternate point of view...

Tim Burton makes rubbish films.

Thankyou and good afternoon

Lol.

If it's cool, I'd rather not get in a Batman movie debate. This thread is about TA/Tg. There are better places to have this kind of discussion. TA/TG isn't even a suPers game. The best you'd get out of a 10th level TA/TG character is a "street level" super.

Moving along...

Thanks.

Understood Sir.

Merely Cititing examples as a recommendation for the "Inspirations/Filmography" Appendix.

Going To Sleep.

Yes, sorry about that Smathis... Wasn't trying to hijack the thread

Looking forward to see how the book turns out. I am interested... I totally love the old Hammer, Amicus and Tigon films style horror movies.

Can I just ask and sorry if this has already been asked but...

Will there be an adventure or plot point type thing in the book? Or some follow up modules?

Thanks.

...and hello to Liu Jen Hao...nice to have you on the forums i was only messing about.

Just had a look at the book description...includes adventure. Interested